Skip to main content

Story: Inventions, patents and trademarks

Aerial topdressing trials

Video file

This 1948 newsreel shows a trial of aerial topdressing at Ōhakea airfield near Palmerston North. This method of spreading seed and fertiliser was invented in New Zealand and later adopted around the world.

Using this item

Archives New Zealand - Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga

Reference: Weekly Review 370. National Film Unit, 1948

Permission of Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga must be obtained before any re-use of this material.

All images & media in this story

How to cite this page

Mark Derby, Inventions, patents and trademarks – Farming inventions, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/video/25398/aerial-topdressing-trials (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Mark Derby, published 11 May 2010, updated 1 February 2015.